If you haven't been following Minted's beautiful new blog, Julep, then I would head there right now. Creative DIY's and inspiration from wedding to baby, it's quickly become a favorite for a quick fun daily read. Last week, Kelly Hall, a fellow Minted designer and a Julep contributor, did a post on an awesome welcome box she put together for her sister's destination wedding in Panama.

She combined stationery from a variety of designs that are all sold on Minted and she used my 'Palm' save the date and invitation accessories for the cover and inside. I love the coral colors, and the combination of designs is unexpected, but simply perfect.

Kelly has a great the eye for styling. Who thought a welcome package could look so chic!?

It's the biggest holiday challenge of the year over at Minted, and my absolute favorite category to design for! I have been designing holiday cards since, well, last Christmas, and always breath a sign of relief when I submit my final design...

The competition is intense - with a record 3, 348 entries! I will be attempting to vote for every. single. one. but just voting on some will help Minted know what they should sell this year so head on over to vote!

Last week, I jetted off to NYC to attend the National Stationery Show for a few days. You might remember my experience from last year, and while that was a blast, this year was even better (though my gals Lesa and Laura were really missed)!

I get asked a lot why I attend. Do I exhibit? Will I in the future?
The short answer is no and probably not. I go to meet with Minted and network with fellow designers. It's a pleasurable business trip, if you will. Wholesale isn't part of my current business plan, but growing my work with Minted is, so spending days talking with their CEO, community managers, and merchandising group was invaluable and of course talking paper with all my design friends is icing on the cake. I might have even snuck in a few hours at the show, but I laugh that it certainly wasn't as much of a focus this year.

That's the short summary. Let's get to the details... those not interested in specifics, you are welcome to go on your merry way. I am about to give a play-by-play. You've been warned.

The only way to explain this trip is that it is a complete whirlwind. It flew by. I arrived on Sunday, getting in mid afternoon at exactly the same time (without planning) as my official NSS roomie, Kimberly FitzSimons. We shared a cab to the hotel, freshened up and headed to The Jane for an unofficial Minted happy hour organized by Jackie of Sincerely Jackie. It was the perfect way to start out our trip. New faces, familiar faces. It was so fun. Facebook groups have allowed us to communicate consistently, so it was really like seeing old friends instead of meeting in person for the first time. I can't say enough how nice these women are.

Me and my roomie, Kimberly

We ended the night with dinner for 20 at Dos Caminos. I ate dinner at 10pm almost every night. New York is really the city that never sleeps!

The next day, after some meetings with Minted, we hit the show. We browsed the design booths admiring all the beautiful work. It is truly inspiring, but kind of overwhelming. There is so much! Last year, I tried to see every. single. booth. and ended up exhausted. So this year, we took it easy and headed back to the hotel for a bit to do a little work and rest our feet for the big Minted party that night.

(L to R) Kimberly, Me, Jen Wick, Kristen Smith, and Carrie O'Neal

The Minted party was at KTCHN and it was a great venue. Minted really threw a wonderful event and at the end, I even scored an art print in a drawing! I never win anything - but I guess I can't say that anymore! I chose Emily Potts' Type Study New York (seen in instagram photos above). It was my little souvenir of the week and I can't wait to hang it in my office.

Me and Jill Means at the Minted Party

On Tuesday, we had pretty free morning, so instead of going straight to the show, Kimberly and I slept in and then headed to Soho. We ate a great brunch and shopped a little before heading to the show for the afternoon.

Once at the show, we hit up a lot of the supply side, which includes suppliers for pretty much all things stationery: printers, packaging, binders, paper. Lots of samples to take home - even trying to keep my stash small, I still struggled fitting it all into my suitcase.

On our way to the Paper Party, we passed by a packed restaurant, called Anejo Tequileria, and decided to head back to it for a little late night dinner. It was a beautiful evening and we sat outside and enjoyed an amazing last meal in the city.... and here, I thought I would be suffering from Mexican food withdrawal!

A bunch of Minted designers, headed up by Jackie Mangiolino, of Believe Notes, got together to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Within days, she created Designers Care, an Etsy shop full of beautifully stamped cards and art work (donated by Minted designers), where 100% of the proceeds go to the Red Cross to help those effected by the storm! Their goal is to raise $2,000 and as of today they are at $860. They need your help!

I don't know where else you can donate and get something so pretty in return! Visit their etsy shop to support their awesome efforts!